Grant for Watford landmark makeover

A memorial in Watford is set for a makeover after a £5,167 grant has been awarded by a heritage body.

The three bronze figures and stone base of the Peace Memorial, next to Watford Town Hall, will get a deep clean and repairs, after the borough council made a successful application to English Heritage and the Wolfson Foundation.

The Grade II listed memorial's condition has suffered over the course of several decades.

Elected Mayor of Watford, Dorothy Thornhill said: "The unique Peace Memorial is a very well known landmark for residents and visitors to Watford.

"This grant enables us to lavish the care and attention that this wonderful memorial deserves."

The work has an estimated cost of £10,335 and is scheduled to take place over the next few months.

The bronze statues were originally made in plaster during the First World War by local sculptor Mary Pownall Bromet, and were offered to the Peace Memorial Hospital during the 1920s.

The community raised money to cast the figures in bronze and erect them on a base of Portland stone in front of the hospital, with an unveiling by the Earl of Clarendon on 18 July 1928.